Brett Bulmer was a healthy scratch for what would have been his 10th NHL game with the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. (Getty Images.)

Minnesota Wild coach Mike Yeo insisted that too much could be read into him making Brett Bulmer, the Prince George 19-year-old who still has eligibility with the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets, a healthy scratch for what would have been Bulmer’s 10th NHL game. Read more about it here.

We will find out more Tuesday, when Minnesota continues its NHL slate with a visit to Detroit. I’m with Kelowna coach Ryan Huska, who says that Minnesota isn’t going to take that nine-game tryout ideal as the be-all, end-all.

The free-agent clock on Bulmer starts once he plays his 10th NHL game this season. He can still be sent back to the Rockets and the WHL after that, though. Evidence of that came a couple of years ago when the Tampa Bay Lightning re-assigned centre James Wright to the Vancouver Giants in January, 40-plus games into the season.

There’s some logic to Huska’s thinking. NHLers get unrestricted free agency after seven seasons. How many NHL GMs last seven seasons? Why save an extra year of a Bulmer for the next guy who’s going to get your job, or the guy after the next guy who’s going to get your job?

Of the 22 players who have dressed with the Wild so far this season, Bulmer is 18th in ice time per game, at 11:01 minutes. He has no goals, three assists, a plus-one rating, and seven shots on goal in nine games.

Meanwhile, winger Brett Connolly, the 19-year-old from Prince George who was told by the Tampa Bay Lightning that he’s sticking with them, is 15th on the team in ice time amongst 21 skaters after 11 games, at 13:34. He has no goals, three assists, a plus-three rating and 18 shots on goal. He, of course, is still eligible to play for the Prince George Cougars.

Port Moody native Ryan Johansen, is 19th in ice time amongst 24 skaters with the Columbus Blue Jackets, with his 11:35 per game. Columbus has played 11 games, but used Johansen, a centre who could still suit up for the Portland Winterhawks, for eight. He has one goal, two assists, an even plus-minus and 14 shots on goal.

Johansen’s old Winterhawk running buddy, winger Nino Niederreiter, 19, has yet to play a game this season with the New York Islanders due to a groin injury, although the team has started list the Swiss sniper as questionable, so he’s close to go time.

Of course, the most ballyhooed of the underages is 18-year-old Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the Burnaby lad who is leading the Edmonton Oilers in scoring. For comparisons, he’s 11th amongst 23 Oilers in ice time, at, 16:30 per game. He’s put up five goals, four assists, a plus-three rating and 22 shots on goal.

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